Wednesday, August 06, 2008

NEW YORK STATE FIRST STATE TO PROHIBIT TOBACCO IN ADDICTION TREATMENT CENTER:

Devil is in the details. The regulation “prohibits patients, family members, and other visitors from bringing tobacco products and paraphernalia to the service.” One can only hope that the state, in zealous pursuit of its goal, doesn’t intend patients to be sanctioned if a visitor opens a pocketbook and a lighter falls out.

As for staff members, no such prohibition against carrying “products or paraphernalia” is mentioned – a disparity that might reflect the fact that staff, through their unions, have vastly more clout than patients.

Precisely because it is so important and potentially beneficial, this regulations is badly in need of revision.